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Ontario Ombudsman André Marin warns there will be no “credible accountability” at ORNGE unless long-awaited new legislation to reform the troubled air ambulance service gives him oversight powers.

In a letter to Health Minister Deb Matthews obtained by the Star, Marin says the creation of a patient advocate’s post is well short of what’s needed to restore public confidence in the agency.

Marin charges the bill is re-inventing the wheel in a time of government belt-tightening with an unnecessary “new bureaucracy” that will be seen as toothless because the patient advocate’s office reports to the health ministry.

“They would not be independent of government. Far from being watchdogs, they would operate on a ministerial dog leash,” Marin wrote in the two-page letter.

“The ombudsman is a fully independent officer of parliament . . . by contrast, the patient advocate reports to an ORNGE vice-president, not even the board of directors.”

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“He or she resides within the bowels of the organization and cannot be expected to investigate any issue with institutional credibility,” added Marin, noting the job description posted last year calls on the advocates’ office to “investigate, resolve, document and report organization-specific patient and visitor compliments and concerns.”

The use of the word “compliments” is troubling, Marin said.

“Needless to say, a position that involves reporting compliments back to management ought not to be confused with the role of the Ombudsman.”

When she re-introduced the bill last week, Matthews rejected opposition calls for ombudsman oversight at ORNGE, where a Toronto Star investigation found potentially deadly delays in dispatching air ambulances to accident scenes along with high salaries, weak expense controls, preferential hiring practices and inadequate oversight by the government.

In some cases, air ambulances were not dispatched until land ambulances confirmed their need — even in situations where it appeared obvious that rapid air transport of critically injured patients to hospital would save lives.

Matthews defended the patient advocate as a way to ensure ORNGE is held to a higher standard after the Star’s discovery of widespread problems, which have led to a criminal investigation by Ontario Provincial Police.

With a patient advocate working internally, concerns can be handled more quickly and expeditiously with faster results, the minister argued.

The job description posted last year says the advocate will “assist patients and their caregivers by providing information about ORNGE, responding to questions and concerns relating to their transport, providing information about ORNGE’s patient complaints and patient relations processes and assisting patients in accessing those processes.”

Opposition parties have already taken aim at the bill, with New Democrat health critic France Gélinas vowing to introduce amendments in legislative committee to force the government to subject ORNGE to ombudsman oversight. She also wants air ambulance officials to be required to appear annually before a legislative committee of MPPs.

“Absolutely,” Gélinas told the Star, questioning why the minority Liberal government wouldn’t want more oversight of ORNGE after all its problems.

She said her measures are “easy, they don’t cost anything . . . but yet they’re (the government) very reluctant to bring that level of transparency and accountability.”

While the bill, which was not passed before the legislature was suspended by former premier Dalton McGuinty last October, now includes new provisions demanded by the opposition parties making ORNGE subject to freedom of information laws, the Progressive Conservatives have also been critical.

The troubles at ORNGE, and the political headaches it has caused for the government now headed by Premier Kathleen Wynne, mean the government should welcome more scrutiny to keep the agency on its toes, Marin said.

“Sound public policy to bring proper oversight to this organization is still sorely needed.”

Among the troubles reported by the Star in its extensive investigation of ORNGE, former chief executive Dr. Chris Mazza was paid $4.6 million in his last two years – including salary, loans, bonuses and cash advances.

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